According to an interview with Brazilian media outlet Combate (h/t MMA Mania), Sonnen echoed a similar sentiment, stating he would "get rid of this bum" before moving back to middleweight.

Sonnen and Silva were originally slated to settle their differences in the co-main event of UFC 173 in Las Vegas, but the fight was instead pushed back a week to headline a Fight Night event in Brazil, per MMA Fighting.

The bad blood between the well-known competitors has been brewing for over two years now and has already come to a head during an impromptu scrap on the TUF set, also per MMA Fighting.

Sonnen has come up short in all of his bids for UFC gold in the past three-and-a-half years, losing to then-middleweight champ Anderson Silva (twice) and Jon Jones.

Despite failing to reach the pinnacle of the UFC's middleweight or light heavyweight division's, the Team Reign Training Center fighter is 6-2 in non-title bouts since February 2009.

Most recently, the charismatic grappler came up short against ex-UFC champ Rashad Evans at UFC 167 in November.

On the other hand, "The Axe Murderer" is 4-5 in his past nine matchups since returning to the Octagon December 2007, though he is coming off a vintage knockout over Brian Stann at UFC on FUEL 8 in March.

Will Sonnen vs. Silva actually go down as planned on May 31 or will some drama behind the scenes deprive the fans of this intriguing fight?